Quintus Curtius Rufus, History of Alexander 9.3.1

9.3.1

Ne sic quidem ulli militum vox exprimi potuit. Expectabant, ut duces principesque ad regem perferrent vulneribus et continuo labore militiae fatigatos non detrectare munia, sed sustinere non posse. Ceterum illi metu attoniti in terram ora defixerant.

Chapter III. — Speech of Coenus on behalf of the army — Alexander's displeasure at the refusal of the soldiers to advance — He resolves to return — Raises altars as memorials of his presence — Reaches the Acesines, where Coenus dies — Reconciles Taxiles and Porus, and then sails down stream But not even by this appeal could a single word be elicited from any of the soldiers. They waited for the generals and chief captains to report to the king that the men, exhausted with their wounds and incessant labours in the field, did not refuse the duties of war, but were simply unable to discharge them. The officers, however, paralysed with terror, kept their eyes steadfastly fixed on the ground, and remained silent. Then there arose, no one knew how, first a sighing and then a sobbing, until, little by little, their grief began to vent itself more freely in streaming tears, so that even the king, whose anger had been turned into pity, could not himself refrain from tears, anxious though he was to suppress them. At last, when the whole assembly had abandoned itself to an unrestrained passion of weeping, Coenus, on finding that the others were reluctant to open their lips, made bold to step forward to the tribunal where the king stood, and signified that he had somewhat to say. When the soldiers saw him removing his helmet from his head — a custom observed in addressing the king — they earnestly besought him that he would plead the cause of the army.